When something like the Sacred Stone camp, or a large demonstration, or
potentially even a new project of exploitation presents itself, we can get
together with people that we know and trust and discuss ways to respond.
From these groups we can engage in a critical manner with others in the
struggle while building our capacity to act in our own groups. We can bring
the energy of groups rather than passive spectators to anything that may
be happening. Sometimes the best support that one can give is creating new
fronts for the enemy to defend, and participants for them to be weary of.
- AGENCY -
AGAINST
PIPELINES
Llud
DIN Pro Condensed Black
Neuton, Bold, Extra Bold, Italic & Cursive
and rebellion against a social order that was founded upon genocide is
somehow expected to be “safe”. This does not mean that I expect us all
to be robotic, emotionless martyrs but that we might want to practice a
little bit more courage than we’ve been showing.
“Anti- oppression, civil rights, and decolonization struggles clearly reveal
that if resistance is even slightly effective, the people who struggle are in
danger. The choice is not between danger and safety, but between the un-
certain dangers of revolt and the certainty of continued violence, depriva-
tion, and death.”
- Escalating Identity, “Who Is Oakland”
"Agency Against Pipelines" was originally published in the second issue of
Wreck, an anarchist publication based out of Vancouver, Occupied Coast
Salish Territories.
wreckpublication.wordpress.com
• Build and challenge your relationships - Many of us exist with-
in social scenes and many of us have diffuse networks of people with
some kind of common interest. There are many relationships such as
within families where it can be far more difficult and in fact impossible
for some to turn in a subversive direction. However there are a variety
of relationships that many of us allow to stagnate, often due to social
insecurity, which have infinite potential to threaten the powers that
threaten us all. We must be in search of deeper affinities with those
around us. This can come from supporting each other emotionally, but
all too often this is separated from challenging internal power dynam-
ics, social mores and ideologies which prevent us from being strong to-
gether. Being hip, cool, popular, self-righteous, intentionally nerdy, or
wallowing in your insecurity will only get you so far, and will do little to
build relationships of trust. Challenge your friends to fight and to keep
on fighting, support them in their fights, and remind them if they are
leaving a city or wherever a struggle is happening that they can try to
find other ways to keep up the fight.
• Get outside your comfort zone (calling you on your cop-out) - We all
have our comfort zones, and these zones are ever changing. Those of us
who have been around for even a short period of time know what to ex-
pect from a workshop or panel discussion. Try forming your own ideas
and reading revolutionary writings from a lot of perspectives. Beyond
that, try applying the lessons you learn from books or through word of
mouth to things happening on the ground and try finding others in a
similar place with the intention of turning ideas into action - self-orga-
nized action. Don’t wait for others to rally you to some cause, waiting
is as addictive as crack, break the habit. Also, I feel there is a disgusting
level of infantilization, victimization and self-righteous posturing
swirling around social movements and scenes these days. We all have
our boogeymen as well as legitimate grievances with others. But all too
often we use these as an easy-out for disengagement with the principles
and tensions we claim to hold dear. There is also a vast difference be-
tween being unsafe and uncomfortable. Life is full of both discomfort
and danger. The western political morality of guaranteed rights and
free speech that seems to have seeped into everyone’s brains has meant
that “decolonization” has become associated only with “speaking out”.
AGENCY AGAINST PIPELINES
by LI ud
The twin institutions of capitalism and the state
are two of the most insanely destructive projects that human
beings have ever devised. At present, climate change is becoming more
and more obvious to the average person and the misery of capitalism is
ever deepening. Resources that the capitalist system uses to stay afloat
are drying up, and it is now forced to go into the shale rock and sand for
these energy resources. In so called “British Columbia,” we are seeing
pipelines and refinery plants being pushed forward as a last ditch effort
to keep the system running at it’s smooth pace in spite of economic and
environmental catastrophe.
The resistance to these pipelines has been multi-form but also quite limit-
ed considering the vastness of the problem that must be tackled. We have
seen non-violent civil disobedience play out on Burnaby Mountain in re-
sponse to the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion, which served as little
more than a media spectacle. We have seen Secwepemc rebels take a more
disruptive approach at the gatherings of CEO’s and others with business
interests related to pipeline infrastructure. Up north, we have seen tradi-
tional indigenous clan structures distance themselves from government
band council structures, as a way to encourage their people to reclaim their
culture and lands. All these among many others.
The Unist’ot’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en people have a camp that is block-
ing multiple pipelines. At present the camp is in a public discourse dispute
with pipeline construction contractors and the RCMP. The pigs and cor-
porations appear to be setting up the case for an injunction of the land
defense camp with the argument that they are disrupting the work that
surveyors need to do. The camp is responding with the legal argument that
they are enacting their traditional jurisdiction on their lands which they
have never ceded to colonial and capitalist control. It is also significant
that the camp is at a strategic pinch point of a bridge that crosses a river
(Wedzin Kwah).
The legacy of the 1990 Oka rebellion looms large in the minds of many
as what can happen when indigenous people refuse to allow the state to
walk over them. In recent history we have the inspiring resistance of the
Milc’maq people and their warriors who defended their territories against
fracking throughout 2013. Both these examples used violent self de-
fense, disruption of the economy, local community involvement and the
Mik’maq struggle used some sabotage. The most important difference of
all between these struggles and the Unist’ot’en camp is the lack of a larger
involvement of their own people from nearby communities. The camp has
instead preferred a strategy of parachuting activists in from other places.
This is not to put down our comrades but to point out to all who do not
seem to recognize it, that different strategies will have different outcomes,
just as different indigenous peoples have different social dynamics at play.
Modern day resistance movements have a tendency to romanticize strug-
gles that they see as the most legitimate. In so called “Canada” this usually
takes the form of support or “indigenous solidarity” to the initiatives of
indigenous people. On the west coast a great deal of energy has been put
into support for the Unist’ot’en camp. The best way that many have been
able to respond to the tense situation up north is fundraising for legal de-
fense and infrastructure at the camp, as well as trying to get “bodies” up
there for “arrestability” in case of an attempted removal by police. These
attempts, while understandable, will not stop the pipelines. The struggle
must be diffuse, but instead we have all thrown our eggs in one basket with
the unrealistic expectation that someone will stop the pipelines for us. We
have done a disservice to our indigenous comrades by placing the brunt of
action against pipelines on their shoulders. Anarchists are also guilty of
this, but we are not alone in exhibiting this problematic dynamic. Often
the justification for such a position is that of “taking leadership”. A tragic
lack of clarity as to what exactly “leadership” means has left many hands
tied, and the “safest” way to continue is seen as renouncing one’s agency.
Those of us that acknowledge that the current context of capitalist ex-
ploitation will deepen the misery of most of us, must find more creative
ways to relate to struggle. Queers, POC’s, anarchists, trans people, stu-
dents, all the many others, and all of our wider networks that do not easily
fit into only one or even any of these categories must struggle on our own
terms.
There are an infinite variety of ways in which we can begin to do this, here
are a few possible examples:
• Expand the terrain of struggle - When something like the Burna-
by Mountain camp, or a large demonstration, or potentially even a new
project of exploitation presents itself, we can get together with people
that we know and trust and discuss ways to respond. From these groups
we can engage in a critical manner with others in the struggle while
building our capacity to act in our own groups (potentially in coordina-
tion with others). We can bring the energy of groups rather than passive
spectators to anything that may be happening. Sometimes the best sup-
port that one can give is creating new fronts for the enemy to defend,
and participants for them to be weary of.
• Practice autonomy - It is all well and good not to want to overstep
ones boundaries when it may be limiting to others. Contrary to what
many believe though, the best way to limit others can actually be to fol-
low along passively. Again, with small or large groups of trusted com-
rades, various actions can be taken which will build our experience,
and analysis through that experience will do a great deal more than just
“shutting up”. It can be a great learning experience or it can be a com-
plete waste of time to listen to others in a social movement. A practice
of autonomy as groups or individuals means setting our own standards
and thereby strengthening another’s as long as we have a common tra-
jectory.